Horror in Casablanca as al-Qaeda toll hits 41

Harrowing details of how terrorists slit the throats of security guards before detonating bombs in Moroccan bars and restaurants were revealed last night as police disclosed that at least 41 people had been killed in the latest atrocities linked to al-Qaeda.

Moroccan police arrested 27 people described as Islamists during raids in the Casablanca yesterday. The bombers launched co-ordinated strikes at five targets in the city on Friday night, injuring a further 100 people and sending ripples of panic through the city.

Witnesses spoke of body parts littering the streets following the attacks, which targeted civilians in bars, hotels and restaurants across the city centre.

'It was like being in a war scene. There was debris everywhere, broken glass, cars destroyed, flashing lights,' local journalist Hassan Alawi told the BBC.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombings but their apparently co-ordinated nature threw suspicion on al-Qaeda. President George Bush warned in his weekly radio address to the US yesterday: 'The enemies of freedom are not idle and neither are we.' He said the war on terror had weakened al-Qaeda but the US was hunting from Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa for any suspects.

Most of the dead were Moroccan. At least six Europeans were killed - two Spaniards, two Italians and two French. Four Britons staying at the Hotel Safir, which was also targeted, escaped unhurt.

Survivors who saw the suicide bombers enter a Jewish centre and a Spanish social club said they slit the throats of security staff before setting off bombs strapped to their bodies.

'It's a catastrophe, a tragedy,' said Raphael Bermudez, owner of the Spanish social club Casa de España, where as many as 19 people are thought to have died. 'There was blood everywhere. It was horrendous.'

Witnesses said a suicide bomber killed the doorman with a long knife or sword before blowing himself up. An employee at the restaurant, Lamia Haffi, told Spanish radio: 'I saw the doorman's chair; it was covered in blood.'

Spanish officials dismissed suggestions last night that the club had been targeted because of Spain's support for the war in Iraq. The Prime Minister, José Maria Aznar, campaigning in the Canary Islands for next weekend's regional elections, blamed unidentified 'fundamentalists' for the bombings.

Sources in Morocco said the attack could be the work of local Islamists including Salafiya Jihadiya, an extremist group linked ideologically to groups in Algeria and Afghanistan.

An old Jewish cemetery at the heart of Casablanca's ancient medina and a luxury hotel frequented by Israelis were also attacked. The Belgian consulate was damaged in an attack apparently aimed at a Jewish-owned Italian restaurant.

The co-ordinated bombing of five separate targets has clear parallels with similar attacks in the Saudi capital Riyadh last Monday which claimed 34 lives, taking the death toll to 75 in a week.

The five attacks, all within a mile of each other, took place simultaneously at 9pm on Friday. They will be a huge blow to Morocco, one of the most liberal countries in the Arab world, whose economy is heavily dependent on Western tourism.

About 4,000 Jews live in Casablanca and many Israelis spend their holidays in Morocco. Interior Minister Mustapha Sahel said 10 of the dead were the suicide bombers themselves. 'They were terrorists, suicide bombers. These are the well-known signatures of international terrorists,' Sahel told reporters.

Morocco has long lived under the shadow of home-grown Islamic militants. In June 2002, a network of Moroccan Islamists based in Casablanca were connected to the arrests of three Saudi al-Qaeda suspects. The Islamist cell was believed to be planning attacks on shipping off Gibraltar.

The three Saudis were convicted in February and received 10-year sentences. Last month municipal elections were delayed in the North African kingdom over concerns about fundamentalism.

The Foreign Office altered its advice for Britons abroad in the country on 17 April in the light of the conflict in Iraq. The most recent advice warns: 'The situation in Iraq has increased the possibility of public disturbances in Morocco, as in other countries in the region; some of these could become unruly. Morocco is also one of a number of countries where there is an increased threat from international terrorism.'

The Moroccan bombings came less than a week after the terrorist strikes on Riyadh. On Thursday, all British flights to and from Kenya were suspended after warnings of an imminent attack, and the Foreign Office warned yesterday against travel to six other East African countries: Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

American anti-terrorist officials in Washington warned on Friday of al-Qaeda plans to attack lightly-defended targets across the world. Cofer Black, head of the State Department's counter-terrorism office, said it was 'no coincidence' that there had been no recent attacks directly attributed to al-Qaeda.

'This was the big game for them - you put up or shut up and they have failed. It proves that the global war on terrorism has been effective, focused and has got these guys on the run.'

Analysts last night said the attacks in Morocco showed that the war on terror was far from over.

Dr Magnus Ranstorp of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism at St Andrews University said: 'This was a classic attack that shows we have to be in this for the long haul. It was a sophisticated operation that struck at multiple targets, and I would certainly expect to see more of them in the future.'